Edmonds, Washington, Wednesday, February 12. The Edmonds Institute,
a public interest, non-profit known for its work on biosafety, today warned
about use of the Internet to find farmers in out-of-the-way places willing
to grow pharm crops. "With bioengineered piglets going unapproved to market,
with experimental crops contaminating 150 acres of corn and half a million
bushels of soybeans, with an engineered corn unapproved for human consumption
turning up all over the world, at a time when the environmental and human
health problems posed by the so-called pharm crops* desperately need the
clear scientific light of day, people are brokering contract pharming deals
on the web, " cautions Beth Burrows, Edmonds Institute President and Director.

Burrows is referring to "biopharming", the genetic engineering of organisms,
such as crop plants, to produce substances they don't ordinarily produce,
such as pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals. Because of the danger
of contamination of our food and feed supplies, "pharming" was the subject
of a recent call for comment by the US Food and Drug Administration.

"The web middlemen tells companies to 'contact us if you see anyone
(on our website list of growers) who might be in the right place to safely
contract grow your crop for you'," notes Burrows, "and then they tempt
farmers with the thought that, "(w)e would expect in order to get exactly
the right location and conditions, Pharmaceutical Companies to lease land
at up to 20 times 'commercial' rates for normal food crops."

Burrows adds, "The web brokers are offering what seems to be a perfect
deal. Perfect, until you begin to wonder whether they're not shifting the
risk and liability burden from pharmaceutical and manufacturing companies
to those much less able to address and bear the potential health, environmental,
and legal burdens of pharm crops."

Burrows points to Molecularfarming.com, a website that came to her notice
via Indusfarming, an electronic digest that originates in India and focuses
on the problems of agrarian peoples in the South Asia and Indus basin region.
Late January, an article in Indusfarming heralded "Molecular farming. Contract
growing opportunity".

The article announced a "global project, based in Europe," that aimed
to "enable the future SAFE production of Biopharmaceuticals, Biodegradeable
plastics, New Fibers and New Polymers in transgenic, NON-FOOD USE, genetically
engineered molecular crops ." The article acknowledged that "there will
be cross-contamination and Environmental risks" but foresaw a "huge future
industry" for contract farmers able to grow "molecular crops" in greenhouses
or in "'isolated', 'non-native', 'away from related food crop'" places.
The article announced a "free to join Global Database of future potential
growers, with the idea of introducing Biopharmaceutical companies with
crops to grow to contract growers and farmers in safe locations."

Mentioning that they already "have a few Indian growers", the article
called attention to the project's website
<http://www.molecularfarming.com> and enjoined the reader to "explore
the potential for you."

Burrows points out that, "This is an inducement to exactly the kind
of 'pharming' that FDA and all the rest of us are concerned about,* and
doing it in out of the way places doesn't guarantee the safety of anything.
"

Devinder Sharma, award-winning journalist and food system analyst based
in New Delhi, saw the same article Burrows did, and commented:

"This is shocking indeed...This is part of the global design to translocate
the dirty industry to the Third World. First, it was the translocation
of toxic and hazardous waste recycling to developing countries (mainly
South Asia and Africa). . .Then came the translocation of the flower industry,
one of the dirtiest farming systems...to India, Kenya and Colombia...Now,
it is the turn of bio-pharma crops. Even in the United States, there is
tremendous problems with bio-pharma crops. So what do you do? Translocate
this dirty industry to countries of South Asia."

According to the website - Molecularfarming.com - its "worldwide molecular
farming database" was started in February, 2002. Since then, "potential
growers" for "pharm" crops have been found in Canada, Ireland, Australia,
Argentina, a dozen states of the USA, Scotland, England, Zimbabwe, New
Zealand, India, Pakistan, Korea, Greece, Turkey, Panama, Romania, Nigeria,
and South Africa. The website owners also "have leads to a farmer's group
in the Baltic Sea Islands" and" a contact for 147,000 acres in Guinea (in
West Africa)."

Not surprised by the website, Sharma notes, "I am sure we will have
a number of 'farmers' waiting on line to encash this opportunity."

Burrows admits that the website "offers an attractive package" but,
she notes, "If you read it carefully, you see many, many safety problems.
At best, they are talking about hoped-for solutions. They talk 'protection'
but it's mostly talk about protection from gene flow in the field. That
is not the only problem, not even the only environmental problem, posed
by pharm crops."

In its recent draft Guidance for Industry regarding Drugs, Biologicas
and Medical Devices Derived from Bioengineered Plants for Use in Humans
and Animals, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advised industry
to "consider the potential environmental impact of all aspects of the manufacturing
process, including but not limited to transport of seeds and plants, growing,
harvesting, processing, purifying, packaging, storage, and disposal."

Looking at the molecularfarming website, Burrows worries that, "Aside
from the risks that may be engendered by handling these crops, what about
the risks from transporting these crops or accidents while processing these
crops? Whose is the liability for the child in an out of the way place
that picks and eats one of these strange new crops? And who is going to
be sure that the farmer in out-of-the-way places are told all they need
to know about pharm crops and their problems and how to handle them. Who
is going to help those out-of-the-way farmers obey whatever relevant laws
may exist in their own counties? I find it noteworthy that one of the key
questions the website asks farmers is, 'Has your property public liability
insurance?'"

Molecularfarming.com does offers its readers translations into Spanish,
Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Chinese, Korean, and Japanese but
it admits that the translations are "not exact". Burrows wants to know,
"Exactly what things aren't exactly well-explained, and what about the
farmers who speak Hindi, or Parsi, or Arabic or Swahili? Who will explain
to them the implications of the deal they are being offered? The unknowing
farmers who find this website may not be so much bridging the digital divide
as walking a digital plank. "

Devinder Sharma warns further, "It is time the civil society wakes up
to these ecological dangers. We cannot allow the West to clean up its house
and even its backyard and turn us into a rubbish bin."

################## end #################

*E.g.,February 6, 2003, following submission of formal comments to USFDA,
a representative of the US Grocery Manufacturers of America warned, "To
minimize the possible risks, a clear system of regulatory enforcement and
liability needs to be in place for the development, testing and eventual
commercialization of PMPs [plant made pharmaceuticals] - just as we require
strict regulations for conventional drugs made in brick and mortar facilities.
Until then, no permits for new field trials or for commercialization should
be issued by USDA because there is no room for trial and error."